After a visit to the park this afternoon, I noticed an ant crawling out of my handbag carrying a crumb.

Maybe I should let him loose on the rest of my house.

When I was a child, dressing up in my Mum’s clothes was the highlight of my day. Sequined clutches, black heeled shoes with bow ties. Feather boas. It was the best. What do you think this says about me now:

Avalon decided that she’d like to wear my clothes. We entered into my bedroom where she dutifully dressed herself with great excitement.

She now lies on the couch watching her beloved “Playschool” dressed in my grey trackky dacks and dark grey tank top. Hmm. Standards have slipped a little, haven’t they?

A tiny, tiny fraction of all my cute stuff!

Every day, something cute drives me crazy

Today seemed to be a turning point for the girl’s moods. Avalon had one ten minute time out in her room this morning and emerged a different person. Maybe she is just craving some alone time? She is scarily like Craig personality wise… They’re both incredibly sooky. Ha ha.

My plan is to try the same tact tomorrow and we’ll see if there’s some correlation.

After the last several intense posts, I thought seeing as how we’ve turned a corner, my posts should reflect that. So here’s some things that I appreciated today.

1. Tiny hands. Lately these girls of ours are becoming more delicate in their touch. Will has stopped scratching constantly and can now rest her hand in an open, relaxed way on my leg or chest. It’s really beautiful. It’s so small that it tickles. But I loooove it. Likewise, Avalon holds my cheek so daintily when she wants me to stop reading her a book so she can have a turn instead. Her fingers sort of caress my cheek ever so carefully and she brings her face closer and closer until she’s almost eye to eye with me. Then she’ll whisper “Mummy, it’s my turn now.”

2. Day sleeps. Could I possiby be lucky enough to witness timed growth spurts? I don’t know what else it could be. But I’m getting an hours nap a day and also an hour of “me” time the last 3 days. It’s blissful and I thank God that it has kept me sane through the crying days.

3. Sisterly cuddles. These are enough to warm the cockles of your heart. And I’ve seen several of them recently. Willow beams and occassionally squeals in delight whenever Avalon reaches gently around her. Often Willow’s excitement emerges in big arm waves of thrill, and just as often, Avalon gets caught in the crossfire. But mostly, Avalon’s reaction (surprisingly) has been to laugh rather than cry. Amazing!

4. Avalon’s speech. No longer am I the one rambling away, Avalon matches my chatter. We’re two peas in a pod. If Craig and I keep birthing girls, this house is going to be very, very noisy.

Just to remember the good times by, just in case another wave of the sooks is upon us again soon.

This has nothing to do with this post at all, I just am. This isn’t Facebook/Twitter…!? Oops…

I was actually thinking of joining Twitter…there are quite a few people I rather like doing it so…it would be nice to follow them.

So here, are some things, snacks again!

The Bean-throwing festival is on February 2nd I think! I know this because I saw a poster with a picture of an arrogant looking guy in a yukata throwing beans at a really sad, small demon with that date on it (I’ll try to take a photo!). I hope the demons look a bit more evil than that! I also hope there’s something going on near my work and that they’ll let me pop out to take part.

“Hello, can I go outside and throw some beans at a person in a demon suit? I need to cleanse myself!!”

I spent last week at the American Meteorological Society (AMS) Annual meeting in Atlanta, GA.  Monday night (1/18) was the Harris GOES party at the aquarium.

Got to see the whale sharks!

I also got to see the evil duck-eating piranhas.

I think I drove everyone crazy with my mission to see the sea turtle.  But unfortunately the turtle was sleepy.  It’s hard to see, but he is using the rocks as a pillow.

To make up for it, I got to bring a stingray home with me.

Tuesday (1/19) was the 50th Anniversary OU Reception at the World of Coke.

They handed out these strange black baggies at the door.  What could be inside?

Ohhh a wine stopper.  I actually needed one of those…

But the best part was bringing home Coke in a glass bottle.  <3!!!!

I also picked up a glowy strange stress ball while I was there.  I figure it’ll be used frequently as we prepare for the 100% delivery in Sept.

Tonight I watched the Colts play the Jets.  Little speaker light-up turtle cheered the Colts on with me.  He was a Christmas present.  Isn’t he cute?

The real turtles weren’t very interested in the game.  But the Colts are going to the Super Bowl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   (My neighbors probably weren’t too thrilled with me jumping around my living room shouting that…)

Keep watching.

good afternoon, friends.  this is just a quick hello on a lovely tuesday afternoon that I’ve spent happily in my studio working on various crafting projects (and something super special for a craft swap I’m participating in).  I had to drop my tuesday afternoon class because of some unfortunate misunderstandings, so until I start my new screen printing classes, I have tuesdays to work on crafts (and, ugh, chores).

I should get back to work, but in the meantime, I’ll leave you with these adorable prints that I am trying to find the true origin of.  LOVE THEM.

Oh, and welcome to all of my new viewers & subscribers.  Please feel free to introduce yourselves, and maybe leave your blogs for me to read!

I’ll be back later with some show and tell and some other things…

xoxo

1. How cute is this puppy on The Daily Puppy today??

2. Remember that adorable puppy cam that went hugely viral last year? The Shiba Inu puppies?

Well, guess what! The momma had another litter, and there’s a new cam for you to watch all day at work.

If I thought my car looked bad on my way back to MD, the PA turnpike on my unexpected trip to MI was a lot meaner.  No license plate!  (And no window washer fluid!  It froze or something… AHHHHHH)

So from IN -> MD -> MI -> IN -> Western IN -> IN -> MD.  40 hours of driving in less than 2 weeks.  And I’m off to Atlanta on Monday.  Flying this time!  At least my trip gave me an excuse to get more Sonic.  I wish more places had the outside credit thingy:

Mom and dad stopped at Miles furniture to check out couches.  I want this table to go with mine when it finally arrives:

Browsing through Borders after writer’s group I found Captain Coco and Grannaple on sale.  So I picked them up and used my $5 Border’s bucks to get them for free:

He can join Bruttino -  Christmas present from my sister. 

Now they are one big happy family.

OK, so…maybe I’ve started collecting Licca dolls… Well, I have 2 anyway, and one Jenny doll. I’ve liked them ever since I went round to a friend’s house in Trondheim and saw her collection of dolls. They’re so much sweeter than Barbies. The matsuri one is from 1987 but her face is pretty much the same as the other one from 2009! Anyway, I’m not crazy, honest!

I got the Mr. Donut uniform for Christmas. See if I were cra-azy, I’d have asked for the Mr.Donut cafe playset…

When I bought a pint of Bent Spoon ice cream at the New Amsterdam Market last month, they handled me a brown paper bag with a weird shaped container inside. I remember thinking it wasn’t the usual shape for a pint of ice cream but I just threw it in the freezer, with bag, when I got home.

Imagine my surprise to finally open the bag this week and see this cute little container inside! They wrote the flavor (egg nog!) on it and all the other fancy ingredients! Have you ever had an ice cream with dark rum, bourbon and courvoisier in it? It’s good!

I just think it’s too cute. It even says, “Wow.”

Thank you, Bent Spoon!

I got some sweet sweet stuff for Christmas this year, and as I mentioned, I also bought myself some sweet sweet promotion clothes to take advantage of postholiday sales, as well. My favorite new things:

1. Shawl collared sweater. I’m not big on sweaters that are fancier than a few buttons or a v-neck, so this was a reach for me. (Really, I’m very plain.) I love it. I can’t really articulate why it is so great, other than to say that it is part alpaca wool and is incredibly soft and snuggly feeling. Also, I don’t look ginormous in it and it’s actually quite flattering to my ladies. I wish I had gotten it in another color, as well, because now it is sold out. However, I’ll now keep my eye out for this kind of neckline, as I think it’s pretty universally flattering.

Also, it is that fun, waffley material, and I love anything waffle. Belgian waffles, Chick-fil-A waffle fries, waffle blankets (what what yellow b.!), etc.

2. I’m obsessed with embellishments. J.Crew’s embellished ribboned corsaged ruffled clothing gets me every time.

This ^

And this

And, of course, this:

In fact, I love them so much that even though I own each of those, going back onto the final sale section of the Jcrew site is dangerous and I already added even more things to my cart. CLOSE THE WINDOW, LA, STEP AWAY.

3. I also purchased this dress from Express for $19. $19!!!!!!!!!!

OK, as you can see, I have a bit of an online shopping problem. This is because of three things: (1) these clothes, at low prices, are begging me to buy them. (2) I have trouble distinguishing between want and need. (3) One day long ago I memorized my credit card numbers and my life will never, ever be the same.

But hey, I heard that the holiday shopping season was better than expected and lasted longer, too. I’ll take 59% responsibility for that.

I do what I can.

yes, yes, it’s been awhile.  i had 2 weeks off from work and don’t own a laptop.  i think i’m the last person left on the world who doesn’t.

november 6th: nerd competition.

marty invited me to an aerospace picnic after i got off work.  he beat everyone else in an airplane building competition and got to pick a prize.  and he got a new helicopter!  which is excellent because his old helicopter has seen better days and his little flying bug got blown away by the wind.  yay marty!!!

november 11: regina

we got to see regina spektor on 11/11.

i can’t even begin to describe how amazing she is and how amazing it was.

i really like this picture.  i took it through the arms of the person in front of me.

playing the piano and the chair at the same time.

adorable.  adorable.  adorable.

november 17: birthday balloons!

25!

25 balloons for 25 years.  some people may assume this was because we watched UP the night before.  that was not the reason, although i did consider floating the apartment to paradise falls. (hey look!  it’s penny!)

what could they beeee?

what?  the REAL settlers of catan?  happiness!

and the expansion board to make it 5-6 players?!  that’s marty’s surprised/happy face.  i won’t even tell you how many times i’ve played settlers of catan since.

november 18th: kevin devine at emo’s.

opened for the get up kids.  i prefer headlining shows, but it was good none the less.

amazing musician.  and incredibly smart.

yay k.dev!  and my new brother’s blood vinyl

november 28th: egg bowl!

check out that big screen and that score.

do i look like i slept in a freezing cold room on an air mattress?  i did.

victory!!!!!!!!!!!

half of little brother.

quem nunca ouviu falar de RayBan?

Os famosos óculos que a maioria acha orrível mas que voltou com tudo em 2009. Com um formato super diferente, o RayBan virou moda até nas passarelas. Até famosos já adquiram o acessório como Demi Lovato, Fergie, Lindsay, etc.

Existem até alguns RayBans que podem ser pintados, incrementando diversas texturas, desenhos e formas.

Mas a RayBan não aposta só no modelo wayfarer.  Tem também os modelos aviador que são os principais modelos que a renderam uma das marcas mais lucrativas de 2009.

No site tem novidades bem legais da marca e modelos exclusivos: http://www.ray-ban.com/brazil/

Será que o RayBan vai continuar sendo tendência em 2010 também?

Eu já tenho um wayfarer vermelho, mas QUERO MAIS UM XADREZ *–*.

Mas o meu orçamento este mês não vai deixar, tô torrando muito rápido meu money ;}

I love our goldens.

The holidays usually mean spending time with your family. That means time you could be spending playing video games is being wasted decorating trees, baking cookies, and getting presents. What if you could play games AND spend time with family, without having to perform the traditional holiday chores or listen to Aunt Muriel gab on about her seven cats? 

Munchkin

Why not try the game of Munchkin, a multiplayer card game where you fight monsters, get sweet loots, backstab your friends, and level up to win? It’s like a simplified, fast-paced version of Dungeons and Dragons, so it’s pretty simple to teach non-nerds, but it’s complicated enough for gamers.

“This award-winning card game… captures the essence of the dungeon experience… with none of that stupid roleplaying stuff. You and your friends compete to kill monsters and grab magic items. And what magic items! Don the Horny Helmet and the Boots of Butt-Kicking. Wield the Staff of Napalm… or maybe the Chainsaw of Bloody Dismemberment. Start by slaughtering the Potted Plant and the Drooling Slime, and work your way up to the Plutonium Dragon…” 

You can customize the rules as much as you want, so you can dumb down the rules for newbs until they figure it out. And because it has some pretty silly descriptions and crazy rules, each round is unpredictable and hilarious and always keeps you on your toes. Wanna be really crazy? Turn it into a drinking game! 

Dungeons!

The original Munchkin version is traditional D&D/RPG style, but there are 9 other stand-alone versions with expansions, plus you can also mix and match to your heart’s content. Other versions include: Munchkin Cthulhu (Lovecraftian style), Munchkin Bites! (vampires that don’t sparkle in the sun), Munchkin Booty (pirates!), and Munchkin Fu (ninjas!). Included: 168 cards, 1 six-sided die, and a rule sheet, for about $25. Official site! 

Chibithulhu

An average game can take anywhere from 1 to 3 hours, longer if you’re playing Epic Munchkin (with dungeons, special abilities, and a higher level cap). It’s a multiplayer game, so 3-6 players makes a good match (4 is ideal). The cards themselves are pretty cool too, with cute descriptions by Steve Jackson and illustrations drawn by John Kovalic (my favorites from Munchkin Cthulhu are H.P. Munchcraft and Chibithulhu). 

So if you need a new game to keep your family occupied, for your next LAN party, for the next time the power goes out, or for Patch Tuesday, try out a Munchkin game. It’s a fairly involved game, and once you play it once, you’ll probably be hooked. So kick down the dungeon door and dive right in to the Munchkin universe!

2010 Calendar: Hot Guys and Baby Animals.